Posted: March 24, 2006

Athletics: Athletes paying their own way to run for Canada

By Alison Korn

How much would you pay to compete for your country?

How about $2,500 for the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships April 1-2 in Fukuoka, Japan? Of the 28 athletes selected to the Canadian team last month, only 10 will have their expenses paid. The rest are forced to fundraise for the privilege of wearing the Maple Leaf.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Jeff Scull, 20, who will run the 12-kilometre race in his first appearance at the worlds. “It makes it a lot harder. But being a new guy on the scene, I’m willing to pay.”

Athletics Canada is paying only for the five men and five women who will run the senior 4 km short course race, a roster that includes established top-level runners Carmen Douma-Hussar of Cambridge and Brantford’s Kevin Sullivan. Those who must come up with the cash are the six junior men (8km), six junior women (6km) as well as the four senior men racing 12 km – including Scull – and the two senior women racing 8 km.

Why the discrepancy?

“Athletics Canada has limited financial resources,” said Martin Goulet, the organization’s director of endurance programs. “Our resources have been focused on the short course events because it is where we believe we are most competitive.”

Luckily for Scull, his family, friends and hometown of Jordan Station (population 2,000) have helped him raise most of the required amount, with an euchre party tomorrow at the local arena planned to up the totals. As if running 80 to 90 miles a week, lifting weights and a part time job washing cars at Thrifty Car Rentals wasn’t enough to juggle. But Scull – like many first-timers on a national team – are starry-eyed and thrilled just to be selected. It’s worth it to them to pay big bucks for an international experience.

But is it fair? Ken Parker thinks not, and the Ottawa sports hall of famer isn’t shy about speaking out.

Parker, 64, is a marathoner and triathlete as well as the founder and former president and CEO of Sirius Consulting Group Inc., which he sold two years ago. The company sponsored the now-retired Olympic triathlete Sharon Donnelly for seven years and Parker is also a regular contributor to the Athletes Can fund (formerly the See You In fund).

Parker points out the fact that last November, Canada funded not one, not two, but three full teams – and a one-week training camp – to attend the Francophonie Games in Niger. (Canadian athletes competed on teams representing Quebec, New Brunswick and Canada.)

“The Francophonie Games are known more for their politics than sport,” Parker wrote in a letter to the Minister of Sport, Michael Chong. “[Meanwhile] the World Cross Country Championships are one of the most competitive and highly-attended sporting events in the world. How is it that Canada has this type of fiscal priority?”

Parker has yet to receive an answer – though he’s been told he can expect one by Mar. 27 – and my call to the Minister yesterday was not returned.

This has been going on with Athletics Canada since 1999, and it’s not the first time Parker has been on the case. The bureaucratic explanation, as he understands it, is that the money comes from different coffers, with the Francophonie Games pegged as a political expense, while Athletics Canada’s budget comes from Sport Canada.

“They try to argue it comes out of different pots,” Parker said. “It’s a bit of a ridiculous scenario, quite frankly. The equivalent would be sending our MPs on a fact-finding mission somewhere and telling them they have to pay their own way.”

Alison Korn is a freelance writer and fomrer Olympian living in Toronto. She can be reached at: alison_korn@hotmail.com

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